During the manufacture and processing of chewing gum, a chewing gum mass is removed from the mixing equipment and is cooled, extruded, formed and wrapped. Upon extrusion, the gum mass is formed into sticks, pellets or tabs. During forming the gum mass tends to stick to the forming equipment.
After forming, the chewing gum sticks are wrapped often using high speed wrapping equipment. Chewing gum has a tendency to stick both to the wrapping equipment and to the gum wrappers as the gum is kept in storage. Finally, chewing gum can stick to the fingers when unwrapped and handled.
For many years, it has been known to dust chewing gum with various substances both to reduce the stickiness and improve the flavor. The materials used to dust the chewing gum are referred to as "dusting compounds" or, alternatively, "rolling compounds", because the compounds are used to make the gum more manageable during processing including rolling and sheeting. For sugar type gum formulations, powdered sugar has excellent properties for use as a dusting agent or rolling compound. Freshly ground powdered sugar is very free flowing and handles easily in the processing equipment. If the powdered sugar is not freshly ground, a flow agent like starch may be added.
In the case of sugarfree gum, the most common rolling compound is powdered mannitol. Prior to the introduction of higher quality sugarfree gum, starch was used as a rolling compound to keep costs to a minimum. Mannitol costs more than starch, but gives a higher quality taste. Therefore, mannitol became preferred over starch as consumers of sugarfree gum became more quality conscious.
Powdered mannitol, however, is not as free flowing as starch. Therefore, other ingredients have been combined with powdered mannitol to improve its suitability for use in processing equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,076, issued to Arnold et al., discloses the use of thaumatin or monellin in combination with mannitol, sorbitol, sucrose, starch, calcium carbonate or talc, as a rolling compound. U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,518, issued to Patel et al., discloses the use of mannitol in combination with a liquid flavoring agent, as a rolling compound. U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,972, issued to Patel et al., discloses the use of mannitol in a rolling compound which is composed primarily of xylitol.
Among the most effective of flow agents for improving the flow of mannitol is magnesium silicate, commonly known as talc. A rolling compound blend of 93% by weight mannitol powder and 7% by weight talc has flow properties suitable for use in production equipment, and has been used successfully on a production scale. However, the use of talc has been hindered and discouraged due to potential regulatory problems. Therefore, there is a need or desire in the chewing gum industry for rolling compounds which contain mannitol but not talc; and which have flow properties similar to the blend of 93% by weight mannitol and 7% by weight talc.